The NICU nurse was in the room and had whisked her away to a warming table at the back of the OR. I remember begging my sister to go check on her, to tell me why she wasn't crying. I needed to know that she was okay. Someone PLEASE make this baby girl cry!
After what felt like an eternity, I finally heard a squeak coming from where they had taken her. And then, actual newborn cries! I was so relieved. Words cannot express the feeling one gets hearing a newborn cry for the first time. I wish I could have captured that moment for E & S to experience later.
I still had some work to do even though both babies were here. I had two placentas that needed delivered. It was still so weird to me that there were two of them. Two placentas, two sacs of water, two umbilical cords.
When I had Peyton, delivering the placenta was easy as pie. I think I pushed one time and out it came. It was a little bit more difficult with twins. I don't remember pushing them out, and this is the part of my labor that starts to get fuzzy.
Dr. Kennedy had already been "up there" getting baby B out, so having her up there again to deliver the placentas wasn't exactly something new but it was the strangest feeling I've ever had. Even more weird than her up there trying to find baby girl's feet to pull out.
Apparently my uterus wasn't contracting enough to get them out on their own, or to stop the bleeding. My nurse, whose shift had already ended, was still in the OR with me while Dr. Kennedy tried to get control of things. She kept telling me how beautiful the twins were, what an amazing thing I had done, and how amazing I did through the labor and delivery. She was "petting" my hair while I just laid there and worried about what Dr. Kennedy was doing. Why wasn't the bleeding stopping? What would happen if they couldn't get it under control?
Sarah, my sister, in her wonderful hospital OR get-up was holding baby A and I could tell he was just so perfect. I wanted so badly to get out of this horrifying room with what seemed like way more than 4 white walls. This was the time when I really took in my surroundings. I felt like I was in some horror film for awhile, awake during an operation gone wrong. The oddest, scariest feeling I'd yet to experience.
Dr. Kennedy was still working on things, and instructed the nurse to give me more pitocin. This was strange to me, since I had already had the babies. It was to help my uterus contract more to hopefully get the bleeding under control and deliver the placentas.
Finally everything was under control from what I understood, and I was able to go back to my room. I was able to hold that beautiful baby boy I'd delivered what seemed like hours ago. I was able to watch him get his first bath in the sink, get all his measurements, and just stare at him.
But it felt like something was missing. E & S, for one. My sister called and talked to them (who were STILL in Paris), and they were sobbing with joy. So excited for their babies to be here and HEALTHY. And so anxious to get on their plane and head here to meet them. I wanted so badly for them to be there with me, to be experiencing all of this. But baby B was missing, too. This was the first time that brother and sister had been apart. My heart was aching for them, to have gone so long side by side to now not be able to see each other.
And I wanted to see her, too! I wanted to hold them both together. Get to experience them seeing each other on the outside for the first time. I hated that she had to be in the NICU, she was doing fabulously with eating and breathing on her own, she was only stuck in there because she was so tiny. That little girl whose brother took most of the nutrients, it seemed! Almost two pounds smaller!
The hospital so graciously supplied a really nice camera they use for births to take all of the "first" photos of everything. They captured an incredible moment when Sarah handed me baby boy for the first time. And they were able to take pictures of baby girl in the NICU to show me. She was absolutely beautiful, but covered in heart monitors and the pacifier they gave her was almost as big as her face! I wanted to go to the NICU, I wanted to hold her. I hated being separated from her, and hated that baby boy was off with nurses and not in my arms.
I knew that the next couple days would be difficult, because of that exact feeling I was experiencing. I didn't want to let go of them, not yet at least. As miserable as I had been while I was pregnant, I felt like I was robbed of 3 weeks that I was supposed to have with them inside me, time to be ready to say goodbye. I wasn't ready for that, not yet.
My nurse had me hooked up to magnesium after the delivery because of the preeclampsia. I was to be on it for 24 hours (if I remember correctly) and I couldn't drink anything until it finished. It was to help prevent seizures and any other complications that preeclampsia causes. I remember being absolutely insanely thirsty and begging the nurse to bring me something to drink. Something, anything! She said I could have a couple sips of water and some ice chips, but it just wasn't cutting it. I wanted to chug an entire gallon of water. My body was exhausted from everything it had just gone through, and still healing of course.
The nurses took baby boy to the nursery for the night so that we could all rest, and my sister went home to be with my nephew. I was on a lot of pain medication, still, and the magnesium wasn't making me feel the greatest anyway, so I was thankful for peace and quiet but longing to just sleep with a baby in my arms.
They came to take me to my postpartum room in the middle of the night, after monitoring me for awhile in my laboring room. I remember that my mom had taken her sleeping pill once all the commotion was over and my nurse had to shake her awake.
I still hadn't seen baby girl, not since Dr. Kennedy pulled her out of me. I was determined to see her before they took me to my new room, and I got my wish. They wheeled me to the NICU and weaved in between a lot of machines and cabinets to get to her. She was so tiny, smaller than I remembered her being when I saw her for that brief moment. But she was absolutely gorgeous.
They let me hold her for a little bit, but I was so dazed from all the medicine that I was falling asleep holding her. They said she was doing great and hopefully would only have to be in the NICU for a total of 24 hours. That couldn't come soon enough.
I went to my postpartum room and slept probably more than I had in the last two to three months. Thank you to my hot anesthesiologist, Adam, for that one.
I still had some work to do even though both babies were here. I had two placentas that needed delivered. It was still so weird to me that there were two of them. Two placentas, two sacs of water, two umbilical cords.
When I had Peyton, delivering the placenta was easy as pie. I think I pushed one time and out it came. It was a little bit more difficult with twins. I don't remember pushing them out, and this is the part of my labor that starts to get fuzzy.
Dr. Kennedy had already been "up there" getting baby B out, so having her up there again to deliver the placentas wasn't exactly something new but it was the strangest feeling I've ever had. Even more weird than her up there trying to find baby girl's feet to pull out.
Apparently my uterus wasn't contracting enough to get them out on their own, or to stop the bleeding. My nurse, whose shift had already ended, was still in the OR with me while Dr. Kennedy tried to get control of things. She kept telling me how beautiful the twins were, what an amazing thing I had done, and how amazing I did through the labor and delivery. She was "petting" my hair while I just laid there and worried about what Dr. Kennedy was doing. Why wasn't the bleeding stopping? What would happen if they couldn't get it under control?
Sarah, my sister, in her wonderful hospital OR get-up was holding baby A and I could tell he was just so perfect. I wanted so badly to get out of this horrifying room with what seemed like way more than 4 white walls. This was the time when I really took in my surroundings. I felt like I was in some horror film for awhile, awake during an operation gone wrong. The oddest, scariest feeling I'd yet to experience.
Dr. Kennedy was still working on things, and instructed the nurse to give me more pitocin. This was strange to me, since I had already had the babies. It was to help my uterus contract more to hopefully get the bleeding under control and deliver the placentas.
Finally everything was under control from what I understood, and I was able to go back to my room. I was able to hold that beautiful baby boy I'd delivered what seemed like hours ago. I was able to watch him get his first bath in the sink, get all his measurements, and just stare at him.
But it felt like something was missing. E & S, for one. My sister called and talked to them (who were STILL in Paris), and they were sobbing with joy. So excited for their babies to be here and HEALTHY. And so anxious to get on their plane and head here to meet them. I wanted so badly for them to be there with me, to be experiencing all of this. But baby B was missing, too. This was the first time that brother and sister had been apart. My heart was aching for them, to have gone so long side by side to now not be able to see each other.
And I wanted to see her, too! I wanted to hold them both together. Get to experience them seeing each other on the outside for the first time. I hated that she had to be in the NICU, she was doing fabulously with eating and breathing on her own, she was only stuck in there because she was so tiny. That little girl whose brother took most of the nutrients, it seemed! Almost two pounds smaller!
The hospital so graciously supplied a really nice camera they use for births to take all of the "first" photos of everything. They captured an incredible moment when Sarah handed me baby boy for the first time. And they were able to take pictures of baby girl in the NICU to show me. She was absolutely beautiful, but covered in heart monitors and the pacifier they gave her was almost as big as her face! I wanted to go to the NICU, I wanted to hold her. I hated being separated from her, and hated that baby boy was off with nurses and not in my arms.
I knew that the next couple days would be difficult, because of that exact feeling I was experiencing. I didn't want to let go of them, not yet at least. As miserable as I had been while I was pregnant, I felt like I was robbed of 3 weeks that I was supposed to have with them inside me, time to be ready to say goodbye. I wasn't ready for that, not yet.
My nurse had me hooked up to magnesium after the delivery because of the preeclampsia. I was to be on it for 24 hours (if I remember correctly) and I couldn't drink anything until it finished. It was to help prevent seizures and any other complications that preeclampsia causes. I remember being absolutely insanely thirsty and begging the nurse to bring me something to drink. Something, anything! She said I could have a couple sips of water and some ice chips, but it just wasn't cutting it. I wanted to chug an entire gallon of water. My body was exhausted from everything it had just gone through, and still healing of course.
The nurses took baby boy to the nursery for the night so that we could all rest, and my sister went home to be with my nephew. I was on a lot of pain medication, still, and the magnesium wasn't making me feel the greatest anyway, so I was thankful for peace and quiet but longing to just sleep with a baby in my arms.
They came to take me to my postpartum room in the middle of the night, after monitoring me for awhile in my laboring room. I remember that my mom had taken her sleeping pill once all the commotion was over and my nurse had to shake her awake.
I still hadn't seen baby girl, not since Dr. Kennedy pulled her out of me. I was determined to see her before they took me to my new room, and I got my wish. They wheeled me to the NICU and weaved in between a lot of machines and cabinets to get to her. She was so tiny, smaller than I remembered her being when I saw her for that brief moment. But she was absolutely gorgeous.
They let me hold her for a little bit, but I was so dazed from all the medicine that I was falling asleep holding her. They said she was doing great and hopefully would only have to be in the NICU for a total of 24 hours. That couldn't come soon enough.
I went to my postpartum room and slept probably more than I had in the last two to three months. Thank you to my hot anesthesiologist, Adam, for that one.
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